The Uruguayan's moment of madness allowed Brendan Rodgers to start planning for the future with a raft of new signings

It probably did not feel like it at the time, but Luis Suarez did Liverpool a huge favour when he sank his gnashers into Giorgio Chiellini's shoulder.

Before the Uruguayan 's latest moment of madness, Liverpool were bracing themselves for another summer tug-of-war for their striker.

Despite his happiness at Anfield and his fat new contract, he had no sooner arrived back in Uruguay than the stories had started to filter out from his camp about how it would be a dream for him to play in Spain.

No doubt if he had not bitten Chiellini, Brendan Rodgers would now be fending off questions about his Liverpool future in response to Barcelona's shameless tapping up.

The uncertainty would have dragged on until into August when Liverpool would either have had to slap him down, like they did last season when he tried to force through a move to Arsenal, or sell him.

If they did try to sell him, they would then have been in a race against time to get as many of Rodgers' targets in as possible, knowing it could take the first half of the season to bed them all in.

Instead, Liverpool seized the initiative when he bit Chiellini and challenged Barcelona to come to the negotiating table with their chequebook if they were serious about signing him.

They took control of the situation and just over two weeks later, Suarez was sold to Barcelona for the £75million fee they demanded and he was no longer Liverpool's problem.

Rodgers could plan properly for the new campaign without the headache of trying to get Suarez into some sort of shape during his four-month ban.

The deal was done early enough in the summer for Rodgers to start using the Suarez windfall to strengthen his squad further.

The likes of Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Emre Can were already done, but he has been able to move on deals for Lazar Markovic, Loic Remy and Divock Origi - with more to come.

The obvious parallel is Tottenham 12 months ago when they sold Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, but Rodgers is adamant Liverpool will not have the same problems Spurs did.

Lambert, Lallana and Remy are all proven Premier League performers and therefore do not need time to adjust, unlike all of Tottenham's new boys last summer.

OK, Markovic will need to find his feet, but Liverpool's success in the transfer market has grown markedly since Rodgers' arrival two years ago and the Irishman is confident the Serbian winger has the temperament and ability to settle quickly at Anfield.

Most of Rodgers' new signings will benefit from undergoing a pre-season with the Reds, which always helps when coming to a new club.

The only difficulty will be the players Rodgers signs after this point and they may need the first few months of the season to bed in.

But Liverpool have already enjoyed a good summer in the transfer market and seem well set to cope better without Suarez than Tottenham did without Bale.